Friday, April 23, 2021

Local voters submit election complaint alleging Racine Mayor violated the Constitution

From Racine County Eye:


Photographers lined up to record Thursday morning's news conference on Monument Square. Five Racine voters and an elections attorney announced that a formal complaint was being filed against Racine Mayor Cory Mason, Racine City Clerk Tara Coolidge and Wisconsin Elections Commission Administrator Meagan Wolfe.

RACINE – Thursday, a group of five Racine voters announced the filing of a formal complaint alleging that Racine Mayor Cory Mason was behind an election administration plan last year that violated the U.S. Constitution.

The 28-page complaint is against Mason, Racine City Clerk Tara Coolidge, and Wisconsin Elections Commissioner Meagan Wolfe. Those bringing the complaint are Martin and Mary Prujansky, Kenneth Brown, Brooke Hesse, and Dale Giles, all of Racine.

“Our view is you’ve got to follow state law and follow the Constitution, and that hasn’t been done,” Erick Kaardal, a Minneapolis attorney representing the voter group, said at a Thursday morning news conference held at Downtown Racine’s Monument Square.

In the complaint, Kaardal contends that $6.3 million in grant money from the Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL) went to the state’s five largest cities before the 2020 general election had strings attached to how the election was to be run. The CTCL is a nonpartisan 501-c-3 nonprofit organization that receives funding from major corporations and foundations, including Facebook, Google, the Center for Civic Design, the Knight Foundation, and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.

The CTCL awarded more than 2,500 election grants, according to its website. That included 221 grants to local governments in Wisconsin.

“This is not partisan. We don’t accept private corporations being involved in the administration of elections,” said Kaardal.

Read more: https://racinecountyeye.com/local-voters-submit-election-complaint-alleging-racine-mayor-violated-the-constitution/

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